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Showing results for tags 'keeping them unharmed'.
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When I see people handling fish in a rough manner it upsets me quite a bit. I have no doubt that some people see the "pro's" hollering and screaming as they hold a fish by the lower lip while waving it around over their heads and they think this is acceptable behavior. I caught a fish a several years back that weighed over 8 lbs. While most of us would consider this to be trophy size it about broke my heart to see that she had a broken lower jaw and was skinny as a rail. If she had been able to feed efficiently that fish would have easily weighed well over 10 lbs. After seeing what bad shape she was in I put her in the live well which had been treated with Sure Life Please Release Me making sure the aerators were turned on. The water was plenty cool as it was in late spring and she was caught at night. Apparently the stress was too much for her in her weakened state and it wasn't long before she died. I'm not saying this was caused by a fisherman, but that it is a very real possibility when handling fish in the manner described above. This has stuck in my mind for a quite a few years now and I have never come up with a good way of educating people about the proper way to handle and care for the fish they catch. And this is not the only example of improper fish handling as I'm sure most of you know. I'd like to get your thoughts and ideas about this subject. This thread is not meant to point fingers at anyone or criticize how different people approach this. The last thing I want to do is start a pi$$ing match. Would just like to hear what you guys think and maybe come up with some way of getting the word out to folks who don't know any better. thanks guys, Ben